The Dispossession of King Nikolaus
Rumors began to spread as early as 1717 AN that something was awry in Ostland as the Confederacy of the Dispossessed continued to ravage the northeastern coast of Keltia. Despite the Bassarid victory in the Hurmu District of Moorland, sitting on Ostland's doorstep, only silence emanated forth from Reichsborg. As Benacian and Hurmu forces battled for their lives on the sands, Ostlandic forces lifted nary a finger of assistance. So it took little imagination to conceive that Ostland was harboring some secret rooted much more deeply than simple neutrality. When the Kingdom of Moorland, spurred by the same raids of the Dispossessed, coalesced into existence in 1719 AN, they were quick to ally with the Raspur Pact and begin military maneuvers against the Bassarids; even though they were much weaker than the forces Ostland could deploy if they so chose.
Such was the situation when King MacMartin met with his closest advisors and authorized Operation Phantom. Utilizing the infiltration skills of the Royal Commandos, the objective of the mission was to gather intelligence on Ostland's continued silence and whether they were covertly aiding or abetting the Bassarid scourge. So on a night mission, a small brigade of commandos parachuted into Ostlandic airspace in a rural area outside of Reichsborg. Landing at the edge of a forest, where it met open wheat fields that led into the city, the commandos were camouflaged as Ostlandic peasants and carefully made their way into the under the cover of darkness.
After carefully maneuvering through the city, they reached the palace grounds and made to infiltrate the defence minister’s office, judging it to be a safer objective as opposed to the King’s rooms. Finding only a few guards that were quickly subdued, the commandos managed to access the ministry’s locked files and photograph them before making a quick exit. Afterwards they made a hasty exit and fled Reichsborg on foot until they again reached the outskirts of the city. From there they stole a transport truck and made it north to the border before the Ostlanders could even sound the alarm.
The evidence contained in the secret documents unveiled a series of startling revelations.
The first was that King Nikolaus VI had actually perished some time ago, around late 1717 AN or early 1718 AN. Slain at the hands of the Green Einhorns, who had secretly infiltrated Ostland's defenses. The second was that the King had been replaced by a lookalike who was, in truth, a Bassarid imposter, trained and supplied by the Confederacy of the Dispossessed. Over the following year the false king gradually dismissed high level government officials in the Ostlandic hierarchy. Some were caught up in some vague scandal that forced their resignation, while others met untimely “accidents”. All in all some several hundred officials were replaced with Bassarids in disguise. Worse yet, though vague in description the records seemingly indicate that the entire royal family of Nikolaus was carefully eliminated, leaving no chance for a successor to wrestle the throne away. This quickly gave them complete control over Ostland’s government.
So for roughly a year Ostland opened up its borders to the Dispossessed, allowing them to slip unimpeded into the countryside and away from the searching forces of the Raspur Pact. It also allowed them to strike at the District of Moorland from north and supply weapons to the Bassarids fighting there, ensuring their victory. It seemed that Ostland had simply become a front for the Dispossessed, the King a mere puppet imposter, and the Ostlandic people pawns in a great charade.
Aftermath
In the immediate aftermath of these revelations, the Kingdom of Moorland declared war on the Kingdom of Ostland, publicly denouncing the puppet government and calling on its Raspur Pact allies to assist in liberating the country. The Moorland Armed Forces were activated in their entirety, with reservists also being called up. The invasion commenced with the the opening campaign of Operation Lefthand Punch.
The Confederate States of Floria swiftly responded with Operation Green Marauder.
The Benacian Union reacted to the news of Ostland's complicity in the cause of the Dispossessed and the treachery of the Green Einhorns by authorising its garrison in the Warring Islands to launch retaliatory raids against commercial shipping flying the flag of the kingdom as well as against Großehafen.
